Johnny Handsome (1989)
*** (out of 4)
John Sedley (Mickey Rourke) is a deformed criminal who goes to pull a heist with Rafe (Lance Henriksen) and Sunny (Ellen Barkin) but they double cross him, which leads him into prison. Inside there's an attempt on his life but he barely survives and that's when Dr. Fisher (Forest Whitaker) offers him an option for plastic surgery. He's let out of prison and starts his new life, which is based around revenge.
Director Walter Hill was riding a wave of success going into this picture. If you go through his career you'll see that he took at stab at several different genres throughout the 1980's with this one here being his attempt at a film noir. All the elements of the noir are on hand here but of course it's been updated for the era, which means it's in color, has a lot more sexuality and of course the nature of the material has been boosted to a R-rating.
JOHNNY HANDSOME works on many different levels but we can just focus on the payback aspect of the story. The character is someone that you actually like and he's someone who end up caring for and feeling bad for. When you like a character so much it's easy to root for them and the film then gives us a couple great villains to root against. The entire revenge aspect work so well and Hill pulls you into this life and really takes you along for a terrific ride.
It certainly helps that the cast are so wonderful with Rourke leading the way in what's really a double role. He did a wonderful job at playing the deformed character and he really comes to life once he becomes the handsome guy who sets out for revenge. Hendriksen is also terrific as the main bad guy as he certainly makes you hate the character. Barkin brings the same type of toughness and sexuality that she displayed in SEA OF LOVE. You've then got a nice turn by Whitaker, a good performance from Elizabeth McGovern and then there's Morgan Freeman playing a cop who you never know what he's up to.
The film contains a great score, some really good cinematography and of course there's Walter Hill's eye that helps pull all of this together. The film really isn't as violent as some of Hill's previous films but it also contains some glorious style that the director really didn't show in earlier movies. JOHNNY HANDSOME is an extremely entertaining film that's worth watching.
